As a Class project we are working on a documentary based on Actor/Director/ Eric Von Stroheim. To give context as to who this man was, Von Stroheim is one of the greatest filmmakers of the silent era of film. An Austrian jewish immigrant, as a young man Stroheim work under influential director D.W. Griffith on the historical landmark film "Birth of a Nation". Wile working with Griffith, Von Stroheim worked as an actor portraying a soldier in battle. On one particular scene. Von Stroheim fell off a roof braking his ribs. This fall however gained him notice by the famous director and quickly rose up the ranks to become his assistant. In latter years Stroheim tried his hand at acting, appearing in supporting rolls next to stars like Douglas Fairbanks. In 1918 Stroheim got first staring roll as a evil German officer in the film "Heart of Humanity". To showcase how insideous this character is, he would tares of a woman clothing intending to rape her. Then with a baby crying he threw the infant out a window. This portrayal became his defining role, he was then given the title "The man you love to hate."
In Popular Culture. Von stroheim was a foe to the young treasure hunter Indiana Jones. This episode was the first in the series and help set the tone for this prequel adventure series.
Eric Von Stroheim - Dana Gladstone.
Gladstone once played Eric Von Stroheim before in an episode of "Young Indiana Jones" titled "Hollywood Follies." In this episode young Indy is sent to Hollywood to wrangle in the outlandish director to finish his over budget film "Foolish Wives."
I think it would be great to use segments from this episode in our documentary.
Interview Casting:
Legendary Director Martin Scorsese - He has been reported to be a big fan of Von Stroheim along with many other influential directors of the silent and golden ages of film. As a class we are planning a trip to New York to Interview Scorsese. Scorsese has shown great interest in our film and is excited to be apart of its creation.
Rick Schmidlin - is a film restorationist. he worked on the rerelease of Von Stroheimes big film Greed. As a class we are going to California to interview Schmidlin for our documentary.
Robert Palazzo - Robert E. Palazzo, Ph.D., was named dean of the UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) College of Arts and Science (CAS) in 2013. Palazzo is very knowledgeable of Stroheim's history. He has agreed for us to visit his office in California and interview him for the documentary.
Arther Leaning - All of these interviewee know much about the eccentric director Stroheim. But this man literally wrote the book on Von Stroheim. Mr. Leaning is a Professor of film in Albani New York. He has studied Stroheim for many years, he even has collected Stroheim's 12 original films in their original film reels. As a Class we are scheduled to take a trip to New York to interview Arther and take his Stroheim films with us to digitize and use in our film.
Vicky Von Stroheim - Vicky is Von Stroheim's grand daughter. She has lived in the St. George UT area for the last few years, and now resides in California. Vicky is very proud of her grandfathers legacy. She feels strongly that his star on the Hollywood stars walk of fame is place on a curb were cars constantly drive over it.
Reenactment ideas.
As a class we want to incorporate some reenactments from Von Stroheim's career. Here are some of the scene that we are thinking of portraying.
1.) working with DW Griffith - clap stick boy. - observing the masters at work.
2.) Directing a move - Stroheim got into argument with an actor. He was such a brut to the man that the whole cast joined in the fight of the actors side. Tempers ran so high that the crowed were talking Stroheim violently. We want to show that Von Stroheim alienated everyone who he was working with. This is one of the reasons why his name is not remembered among other influential film makers of his time.
3.) In directing famous actress Gloria Swanson, Von Stroheim wanted a scene in witch an old bearded alcoholic would spit chewed Tobacco juice onto the actresses hand. Swanson did not want to do this scene, however in doing a take of the scene, a lille spittle of the disgusting bio slug trickled down the mans chin and landed on the leading actress hand. Swanson was so disgusted that she took it upon herself to fire Von Stroheim as director. The film was never completed.
4.) In one film that Von Stroheim stared in. The actor playing an evil German officer, attempts to rape a woman, tarring her cloths with his teeth. But is halted by the screams of her infant child. Von Stroheim walks over the the crying baby and shockingly throws the child out the window.
4.) In one film that Von Stroheim stared in. The actor playing an evil German officer, attempts to rape a woman, tarring her cloths with his teeth. But is halted by the screams of her infant child. Von Stroheim walks over the the crying baby and shockingly throws the child out the window.
Research
1922 "Foolish Wives"
- This was the very first film to cost a million dollars to
produce. Von Stroheim Directed, Produced, and Stared as "Count Sergius
Karamzin" an evil Russian military officer.
- Von Stroheim was very detailed orientated, so much so that
he hired an engraver to print exact copies of French money to be used in the
film (the engraver he hired was also to play the role of a counterfeiter.) The
money that was printed was so realistic that Stroheim was arrested on charge of
counterfeiting French money. At his court hearing Stroheim was released of
charges by stating to the judge that the money was only printed as to be used
as a prop in the film.
Accompanying the currency printed for the film. Von Stroheim
also wanted his actors to feel as genuinely aristocratic as the characters that
they were portraying. Stroheim ordered many very expensive evening gowns from
Paris, silk stockings, and monogrammed underwear for all the actors. He also
ordered real porcine statues, High end tapestries, and glass chandeliers. The
lavish food and drinks that the actors were to eat in there scenes was also
authentic. That was real Champaign and Caviar that you see in this movie. When
Stroheim was ask why he did not just substitute Ginger Ale and Blackberry Jam
for the snobbish delights he is quoted as saying "Because my actors will
know the difference, I will know the difference, and the camera will know the
difference."
The set (located at Universal Studio's) were created as a
complete replica of Monte Carlo, down to the details of having an artificial
lake built. Von Stroheim said of the set the he should know what Monte Carlo
looks like since he was "Busted there twice."
- In December of 1921 Von Stroheim finish his edit of the
film. It was 32 reels and 8 hours long, but Stroheim said that it was "A
perfect story." When he was asked how 8 hours could be constructed as an
evenings entertainment, Stroheim answered with "That's a detail I hadn't
time to bother about." As a result Universal took over editing and shortened
his film down to 14 reels with a 210 minute running time. Von Stroheim resented
this and said that the only resemblance the film had to his version was
"The bones."
- Universal studio's was so exacerbated by the cost of the
film that they erected an electronic sign on a rooftop overlooking the street
of Broadway. The sign had a numbering board placed on it and read
"Universal Pictures and Erich von Stroheim will spend $XXX,XXX to
entertain you with 'Foolish Wives." Finally when the production ended the billboard
sign showcased the total cost of the film as $1,103,736.38. Von Stroheim
however said that the actual cost was more likely around $700,000.
- Timing for Stroheim to shoot the film became extravagant
at 11 months, so much so that Universal Studio's head manager (Carl Laemmle)
sent his 21 year old assistant Irving Thalberg all the way from New York to
Hollywood, in order to convince Stroheim to finish shooting the film quicker,
or he would be fired and replaced by another director. Stroheim was not
concerned by this threat and told the young assistant that since he was the
star and director, without him there would be no movie. Because of this
annoying fact, the studio assistant stayed on to supervise Von Stroheim
throughout the rest of filming. When shooting was commencing, the assistant
would observe the process. Once Thalberg was convinced that Stroheim had
enuf footage to complete a scene, he
proceeded to take the cameras away from Stroheim, stating that they were studio
property. For proving to the studio that he was capable of wrangling in the out
of control director, Universal appointed the position of Head of Production to
Thalberg.
1923 “Marry Go Round”
-
Von Stroheim in keeping with his extensive
attention to detail. Ordered a Venetian Streetcar to be delivered to the set of
the film. A San Francisco streetcars would simply not do for his picture.
Accompanying this huge purchase. Von
Stroheim also ordered a real horse drawn carriage that was once owned by Venetian
Emperor Franz Josef. He had the historic carriage shipped all the way from
Europe to Hollywood so it could be used in one scene of the film.
-
During filming of the film, Von Stroheim was
fired as director and replaced by Rupert Julian. Julian reshot many of the
scenes that Von Stroheim already completed. In the end there is only 10 minutes
of footage that Stroheim shot for the film.
-
When Stroheim was appointed as Director of “Marry
Go Round,” he promised the studio that he would produce this film on time and
under the set budget. However, studio manager assistant Irving Thalberg did not
believe Stroheim. Thalberg insisted that movie star Norman Kelly should be the
leading actor instead of Von Stroheim.
After 6 weeks of shooting, Thalberg was fed
up with Stroheim’s shooting schegual, conviced that this film would go over
budget just like “Foolish Wives” had done. Thalberg abruptly fired Von Stroheim
as director and replaced him with Rupert Julian.
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